From criminal to crime prevention 

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After 36 convictions for crime, Martin Rasmussen decided to become law-abiding and use his experience constructively. Today, he guides the security industry and its customers on how to best secure their assets. Among other things, TV 2 has used him in broadcasts, just as the fog cannon manufacturer PROTECT™ lets their customers learn from Martin Rasmussen’s advice.  

How did your new life as law abiding begin? 

“It was my little daughter who got me out of crime,” says the 37-year-old family man in 2015, who can look back on a life with 500-600 burglaries, which a few years ago was changed to a straight-line life with crime prevention.  

“I have committed crime all my life and had received a sentence of two years after a bank robbery. While I was in prison, I had to settle for talking on the phone with my little daughter, who told me that she missed me. So there I made the decision that I had to do something else so that I could be there for her,” he elaborates and talks about his old life.  

What kind of existence did you leave?  

“As a criminal, I relaxed during the weekdays and made the money at the weekends. I could easily “earn” DKK 50,000 to DKK 100,000 per month. And the money was used immediately. So we had a wild lifestyle,” he assures and continues: “The demand has always been greater than what can be stolen.”  

Agreement with PROTECT™ 

The change has meant major changes for the former criminal, who has now made an agreement with the Danish fog cannon manufacturer PROTECT™, which exports over 90% of its production to more than 50 countries. In the future, Martin Rasmussen will tell PROTECT’s product developers about his experiences and pass on how the fog cannons should be installed so that they are used to the optimum and keep thieves out to PROTECT’s alarm installers.    

“Many installers probably think that it is more exciting to get to know the thoughts of the thief than to get to know the rules from an EU norm in fog protection. The installers will certainly consider it a sport to close the holes that an experienced burglar points out. By using an ex-thief, we get to tell things in a lively and interesting way,” says PROTECT™.    

17-18 years of crime  

Martin Rasmussen grew up in Taastrup and believes himself that he entered the criminal career because of his friends. The bank robbery was one of the rarities. His specialty has always been breaking into shops and businesses as well as private individuals. And he has always gone for cash and gold – or “custom orders” such as clothes and bicycles, where the “customer” wanted something special and knew where it could be obtained. So everything was agreed before Martin committed a burglary.   

He has never gone after TV or other electronics because it is too easy to track and therefore too risky. But gold and cash – even if they were in a safe. The cash cannot be traced, and an incredible number of people and companies have large amounts of cash lying around. He handed over the gold shortly after the burglaries to a heeler on the way home. The healer passed it on to a goldsmith who remelted it so that Martin could not relate to it.   

In addition to cash and gold, many homes and companies also have both car keys and registration certificates lying around, so that the thief can easily steal a car and sell it “legally”.  

Before a burglary, he was always very thorough in looking at how the building looked, as well as how it was possibly secured. After which he considered whether a burglary could pay off in relation to the expected yield. He had no shortage of customers.  

How could you be successful when so many secure themselves today?  

“I often had a good angle grinder with me, which handles most safes. So safes are often a false sense of security for the owners, this can also be the case for alarms and fog protection if they are not installed correctly. There are often blind spots where you can work without activating the alarm. If it is secured by fog, you have to know the place beforehand and then just hope that you can find the values quickly and be able to find your way out again.”    

He himself has tried to break into pharmacies, jewelers and bicycle dealers who were secured by fog. And he often discovered it too late. “So I had to come again a few months later, when I was better prepared. The fog comes in so fast and I want to be gone in less than three minutes so I can hand over the goods to the taker before the break-in is discovered, so I won’t have anything on me, if the police want to talk to me.”   

Would an alarm sign make you go to the next house?  

“Often, a sign with “alarm” or “fog protection” will make a burglar choose the next house in the row. But an alarm or fog system can have a greater effect if the thief does not know about it and is surprised by it,” says Martin Rasmussen. Some citizens and businesses therefore prefer that there are no alarm signs on windows and doors, just as many already today choose to place their fog cannons hidden under a ceiling panel or inside a wall, so that you can only see a small nozzle from which is the dense fog fills the room within seconds.  

However, Martin Rasmussen has often experienced that he has had an easy game despite fog and alarms, because it is far from certain that the owners secure the things that the thief is most interested in. It could be that you secure a server room, while the thief goes after valuables in the open office environment, which is not as effectively secured.   

“With this type of consideration from Martin Rasmussen, we can expand the security advisers’ horizons so that they see a property through the thief’s eyes and discover that it is not always what the end customer thinks are the greatest values that the thief finds most interesting,” concludes PROTECT’s then CEO.   

Did you return if your venture was unsuccessful?  

“If I was cheated by security or for other reasons, so that I didn’t get the order stolen, it affected my reputation. Or I might have received the payment beforehand. So it was important to be successful,” says Martin Rasmusen.   

After Martin decided to become a law-abiding citizen, he talks openly about his past and has actually made his crime a living while pursuing an IT degree.   

How is your new life?  

“We talk openly about my past, so that the children and parents in the kindergarten also know it. The vast majority have accepted it, and it is a liberation for me to be able to speak freely about it. And then the public about my old life has become a stumbling block for myself,” concludes Martin Rasmussen, who is looking forward to a legal life as an IT expert with a girlfriend and soon two children.